Improvement in flood-fences



E. C. H F F A K E R FLOOD-FENCE.

No.171,567. Patented Dec. 28,1875.

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ATTORNEYS N.PEI'F.RS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, Dv CA UNITEE STATEs PATENT QEErcE.

EDWARD c. EUEEAKEE, 0E MoEEIsTowN, TENNESSEE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FLQOD-FENCES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,567, dated December 28, 1875; application filed October 30,1875.

To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD G. HUFFA- KER, of Morristown, in the countyof Hamblen and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Water-Gate; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making a part oi' this'specitication, and to the letters and iigures of reference marked thereon.

Figure l of the drawings is a representation of the front view of my water-gate. Fig. 2 is an end section of the gate.

This invention has relation to improvements in water-gates,lwhich are especially designed to close a gap in a fence caused by a stream of water, or where a current ot' water occurs during the prevalence of rainy weather.

VThe nature of the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of the parts, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

' In the annexed drawings, the letters AAdesignate upright posts, which are driven into the ground, one at each side of the streamer ravine, and are connected at their upper ends by means of a beam, A. To this beam is hinged, so as to vibrate vertically, an open- Work gate, B, which nearly fills up the gap between posts A, and is prevented from swin ging up stream by means ot' a bolt, a, driven into the said posts, as shown in Fig. l. In general, the vertical bars of this gate will extend downward to low-water mark 5 but their lower ends may be carried under the water if I so elect. The side rails b of gate B are provided with a strip, c, in the lower bifurcated'ends of which are pivoted verticallyvibrating latches O, which latches are preferably made of wood, and are prevented from swinging, when hanging vertically, up stream,

by means of a pin or bolt, d, driven into the vertical end bars of the gate; and by means of this bolt and of a similar pin or bolt, d', driven into the uprights A near their downstream face, and near the lower endof latches C, the gate itselfl is prevented from swinging Y down stream.

In practice, uprights A will lean a little up stream, and in consequence the gate, during low water, will gravitate against the pin a. In this position the distance between the pivot of the latches C and the down-stream pin d will be greater than the length of the said latches; consequently when the water begins to rise and reaches a certain height,lthey will be thrown up. into the position shown in Fig. 2, above the pins d', thereby unlocking the gate, and allowing it to be thrown upward into the position shown in Fig. 2, in dotted lines, for the passage of a drift of wood.

When the water falls and the drift ceases to run the gate will gravitate gradually downward until low-water mark is' again reached, when latches C, striking against pins d', will yield, and allow the said gate to resume its natural position in contact with pin a. This being accomplished latches G will hang vertically from strips c, and will lock the gate against being swung either up or down stream.

By the means above described the watergate is eiiectually protected during a freshet f'rom'being carried away by the drift or force ofthe current, and after its subsidence is automatcally locked, so that all times a reliable barrier is obtained for shutting cattle in or keeping them out of an inclosure.

What I claim as my invention, and desireY to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with a suspended gate, of the pivoted latches c and uprights A, having stop-pins a d d', substantially as specified.

In'testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARDA C. HUFFAKER. 

